WrestleMania 13

WrestleMania 13 was the 13th annual

The

WrestleMania 13 was the second WrestleMania to take place in the Chicago metropolitan area, following WrestleMania 2. The event was attended by 18,197 who paid a total of $837,150 in admission fees, and drew a 0.77 buy rate. The event as a whole received mixed to negative reviews. However, the submission match between Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin was highly praised, being called one of the greatest matches in wrestling history, and has been cited by some as the beginning of the Attitude Era.

Production

Background

The main feud heading into WrestleMania 13 was between The Undertaker and Sycho Sid, with the two battling over the WWF Championship. At In Your House 13 in February, Bret Hart last eliminated The Undertaker in the Final Four match to win the vacant WWF Championship.^[6] Hart's reign, however, lasted only one day as he lost the title the next night on Monday Night Raw to Sycho Sid after interference by Stone Cold Steve Austin, one of the other participants in the Final Four match (the other was Vader, who had no further involvement in the ongoing storyline).^[6] Due to being the runner-up to the title at Final Four, Undertaker was made the number one contender and was booked to challenge Sycho Sid for the title at WrestleMania. However, on the March 17 edition of Raw Is War, Sid defended the title against Hart in a steel cage match, with the winner defending his title at WrestleMania. During the match, both Undertaker and Austin interfered. Undertaker came out to help Sid because he wanted to wrestle Sid for the title while Austin helped Hart because he wanted to make his scheduled submission match with Hart a title match. Sid won the match and retained his title and as a result, Sid vs. Undertaker remained the main event of WrestleMania.^[6]

The second main match on the card was

The fourth match was a

The fifth match was a No Disqualification Submission match between Bret Hart and Stone Cold Steve Austin. UFC fighter Ken Shamrock was the special guest referee for this match. Austin attacked Hart, who was still in his entrance attire. The two first beat each other in the ring before the action spilled outside the ring. Hart tossed Austin into the steel ring post while Austin drove him onto the steel barrier. The two men began fighting in the crowd, where both men hit each other with several foreign objects. They moved up the steps high into the crowd. Shamrock followed them and brought them back towards the ring where Austin attempted to use steel steps on Hart, but Hart stopped him with a kick to the midsection. As the action began in the ring, Hart focused on Austin's leg. He busted Austin open with an Irish whip into the steel barricade and Austin's head began to bleed profusely. Hart tried to use a steel chair on Austin's leg, but Austin choked Hart with a television cable. Hart hit Austin in the head with the ring bell. He applied a Sharpshooter on Austin who did not submit and tried to resist but passed out from the pain and loss of blood. Shamrock awarded the match to Hart, but Hart continued to attack Austin which led to a double-turn as the fans turned on Hart and began cheering for Austin. Shamrock pulled Hart off of Austin and executed a waistlock takedown and physically challenged him to a fight. Hart declined to fight Shamrock and left the ring to a chorus of boos.^[6] Austin, meanwhile, after regaining consciousness, hit a Stunner on a referee when he tried to help Austin out, then slowly limped away to backstage, while the crowd chanted his name.

The sixth match of the event was a

The main event was a No Disqualification Match between The Undertaker and reigning champion Sycho Sid for the WWF Championship. Shawn Michaels provided commentary for the match. The then-heel superstar, Bret Hart, came out during the match and insulted Undertaker, Michaels and particularly Sid because he claimed that Sid had screwed him out of the title. Sid powerbombed Hart while Undertaker took advantage and began attacking the champion from behind. Undertaker went for an Old School but Sid took him in a bearhug. Sid attacked Undertaker with various moves and attacked him with television monitors, and applied a camel clutch on Undertaker. Sid had the advantage in the match until Hart came back and attacked Sid with a steel chair. He recovered and got Undertaker in the powerbomb but Hart returned again and distracted Sid which allowed Undertaker to hit Sid with the Tombstone and pin him to win the match.^[9][6]

Reception

The event was attended by 18,197 who paid a total of $837,150 in admission fees and drew a 0.77 buy-rate.^[7]

In 2011, Marc Elusive of 411mania gave the event an overall score of 7.0 out of 10.0 and noted that "The Attitude Era began here..." and that the main event was "a very boring match".^[10] John Canton of The John Report gave the event an overall score of 4 out of 10 and said that the show was "poor" and noted that the main event "sucked for the first 15 minutes, but the ending was okay".^[11]

Despite the lackluster reviews towards the event, the submission match between Hart and Austin was highly praised. In 2007, it was placed #1 on IGN's list of Top 20 Matches in WrestleMania History, and described as a match that "launched an era."^[12] Thomas Golianopoulos of Complex Sports also ranked it at number 1 in his list of the 50 Greatest Matches in WrestleMania History, citing the match's six factors of storyline, innovation, psychology, finish, post-match angle, and fallout.^[13] Elusive of 411mania described the match as "outstanding" and "that helped propel Steve Austin into the stratosphere and become the star of the late 90s and the early 00s", while also noting the double-turn after the match. John Canton called the match a "wrestling perfection". It received a five-star rating from Dave Meltzer and was also voted Match of the Year (1997) by readers of his Wrestling Observer Newsletter publication. Pro Wrestling Illustrated readers named it Match of the Year (1997). The submission match would also be the last time a WrestleMania match would receive a five-star rating until WrestleMania 39 in 2023 when Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn vs Jimmy and Jey Uso on Night 1 and Gunther vs Sheamus vs Drew McIntyre on Night 2 both received the five-star rating. Hart would call it his favourite match, labeling it "a real masterpiece."^[14] Ken Shamrock would call it "one of the greatest matches in wrestling history",^[15] and Jim Ross called it the greatest match he'd called at WrestleMania and the most "well-executed" match he'd seen.^[16]

Aftermath

The Undertaker received a push after he won his second WWF Championship at WrestleMania 13.^[18] He spent a reign of 133 days^[19] which included battles with Mankind,^[6] Steve Austin,^[6] Faarooq^[6] and Vader.^[6] At SummerSlam 1997, Undertaker's long reign finally ended when he lost the title to Bret Hart when special guest referee Shawn Michaels accidentally struck Undertaker with a steel chair, which was intended for Hart.^[18][20]

After losing the WWF Championship to The Undertaker at WrestleMania, Sycho Sid's push began to diminish and after King of the Ring, he began to disappear from WWF programming. In actuality, Sid quietly left WWF to focus on recovering from a neck injury. Sid eventually returned to rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1999 and continued to wrestle as Sid Vicious until he suffered a near career-ending leg injury at WCW Sin on January 14, 2001.

Results

Other on-screen personnel

References